Promise Me
by satinsilversnowflake
Summary: Set after FBM 13 . Sequel to Burnt Ice.Mostly K&Z centric.Katara is struggling to forgive Zuko and is sent on a special journey, meanwhile Aang faces off w/ the firelord,Sokka looks for suki, &Toph takes a leap all during the final battle.
1. Chapter 1

_Okay- I know that I haven't finished the prequel _Burnt Ice _yet, but here is the sequel. I actually have both almost finished, but there are holes that need to be filled in so I can't post the whole thing yet. So . . . I like this story uber more than my other one, but I'll try really hard to pace myself and write them at the same rate. If you started to read _Burnt Ice_ and stopped because it wasn't Zutara centric enough, this is completely different. As much as I tried, the other characters don't come into play much until the final battle. Oh well. (and there's actually a smidge of Taang at the end.) I'd also like the opportunity to point out that I have shipping allegiance problems between maiko, zutara, and kataang. my point is that if i'm doing zutara wrong plz tell me. okay that was waaay to long. so sorry!!_

* * *

Katara slowly walked across the pavement to the edge of the balcony.

Mist surrounded the western air temple. Katara sat on the railing, bended a handful in and slowly spun it. She waited until it had formed a large drop of water, and then let it go. It fell like a tear down into the gray abyss. She heard footsteps behind her and looked up to see Zuko in the doorway. Shadows covered the left side of his face, but as he walked outside they scattered. Underneath was the melon–red of his scar. He saw her and started to turn back.

"Zuko?" He turned half toward her. "You don't have to go."

"It's fine. I'll just meditate in my room for a while." She could tell that he wanted to leave, but Katara was trying to have a nice civilized conversation for once and he wasn't going to get away that easily.

"You seem to do that a lot." she commented.

"Meditate?"

Katara nodded.

"That's where I can reach a calm place to evaluate my life – think clearly about the war and . . . ." For a second he sounded like he was about to reveal something. " . . . stuff." he finished rather lamely. Katara was disappointed. She had hoped that after their last incident he would be more open to her. She opened her mouth to probe him farther, but Zuko was talking again.

"Do you know what time brunch will be?"

"I just put the kumen berry porridge on, so maybe 20 minutes or so."

"You're not going to sneak in any leftovers are you?"

"What - you didn't like the pickled briar prunes?"

Zuko recoiled comically, " Those things are nasty!'

"Hey, don't bite the hand that feeds you!" Katara shot back, but she secretly agreed whole-heartedly. Zuko threw his hands in the air feigning backing off, "Whoa, didn't mean to offend the cook." Something like a smile played foreignly around his lips before he turned and melted back into the shadowy hallway.

Katara was left, still sitting on the railing, her eyebrows up in surprise. A joke. She had joked with Prince Zuko of the Fire nation. "What is this world coming to?" she said out loud. Then she realized the bitter irony of her words at a time like this.

Another tear dropped off into the gray abyss beneath her, but this one had rolled off her upturned cheek.

* * *

_How was it? R&R people!! R&R!! Everytime you review, Zuko's glances Katara's way. THAT should be incentive enough.  
_


	2. Chapter 2

_Yay! A long chappie! Just to clear things up, Katara is suddenly being nice to Zuko because of what happened in the prequel. She didn't just wake up and decide to be miss-sunshine. I hate it when fanfics do that. Oh, and this is all set at the Western Air Temple.  
_

_Disclaimer: If I owned avatar I would stop obsessing over what's going to happen in Boiling Rock, 'cause I would already know. tear_

* * *

A cry rang out and Katara dropped her bending water in alarm. She quickly climbed out of the fountain and ran to where the boys were training, leaving dark wet footprints on the stone. The first thing she saw was Aang. He was sitting on a bench and holding his arm tightly.

She stormed up to Zuko, "What happened!" Zuko backed away from the furious glint in her eyes.

A hand on Katara's shoulder spun her around.

"It's my fault, Katara." Sokka said calmly. "Aang got hurt while he was messing around with my sword. "

"Sokka! He could have really hurt himself! You and Zuko shoud have watched him more carefully!"

"Why are you bringing Zuko into this?"

"Because he was standing right here. Why do _you_ have a problem with me accusing Zuko?"

"Because that's all you do lately.

Katara stared at him in shock with a gaping mouth.

"I haven't accused him of anything for the last two days - except except when he took extra oatmeal rations. Don't worry, Zuko and I have made . . . amends." She gave their subject a sideways glance.

"Alright . . . I was just saying." Sokka waved both hands in front of his chest. "I'm sorry I didn't keep an eye on Aang."

"And I'm sorry I didn't either. Katara was right, I shouldn't have been distracting you, Sokka." Zuko offered.

"And I'm sorry I blew up in your face, Zuko." Katara said.

"Apology accepted, peasant." She could tell that he was trying to lighten the mood. She folded her arms over her chest and cocked her head to the side, eyebrows raised.

"So you WANT me to blow up in your face?"

"I'm sorry that I got hurt in the first place.' Aang stood up and walked over. "I'm the Avatar, I shouldn't need someone to watch over me like a little kid. This isn't anyone's fault but my own.'

"Do you think you could heal this?" Aang asked and showed her the cut, his eyes pleading like a mooselion pup.

"No problem." She smiled back.

8888888888888888888888888

Toph and Katara were staring each other down, each with a good-sized glob of mud in each hand. Unlike last time, though, they were laughing.

"Ready to surrender?" Toph taunted.

"What do you take me for – an earthbender? This fight isn't finished."

"Then why are you breathing so hard?"

"Why do you have a huge scrape on your arm? " Katara said before muttering under her breath, "Remind me to heal that later."

"To let you feel like you were winning."

" I_ am_ winning."

Toph brought her knee up high before stomping into the earth. Katara inwardly grimaced as mud splashed up Toph's leg and all over Toph's red capris. _She _ didn't have to do the laundry. A rumbling beneath her feet gave her a second's notice, and when a pillar of rock unearthed itself, Katara was already flying at Toph with a stream of water behind her. Toph chopped at the ground with her hand causing Katara to lose her balance on her runway of ice, and before Toph could protect herself, Katara had fallen on top of her and both lay in a panting heap on the ground. Katara thought quickly and brought an ice dagger to Toph's throat.

"Over yet?"

Toph knocked it out of her hands with a small rock and quickly raised a boulder above her.

"I don't know, you tell me."

Katara's eyes narrowed, and before Toph could react, a flick of her wrists sent a glob of mud flying toward her. _Splat!_ It covered Toph face like a deformed spa mask. Toph couldn't bend it away because of the boulder she held above Katara, but the mud was all inside her mouth and nose making it hard to breath. Toph tossed her boulder aside.

"Truce?", she asked.

"Truce." Toph swiped her arm across her face and sneezed. They helped each other up, looking for all the world like they had just taken a mud bath. They laughed.

888888888888888888

Katara sighed. She bended most of the mud out of her fire nation clothes and threw it out the window before tossing them into a basket. The laundry would have to wait until tomorrow. It was a good thing she had both her red and blue outfits. She looked out the window and saw the mist once again gathering in the moonlight. One could almost see the spirits of air benders flirting around. Friendly ones, of course.

She turned back to her bed and started to ponytail her hair, when her head started to feel light and hot. Her vision blurred for a second, and she stumbled to grab the bed, her hair falling back down around her shoulders. As the sensation cleared, Katara realized how tired she truly was. Her extensive training that day must have caused the dizzy spell. First practicing in the fountain, then teaching Aang a new form, then sparring Aang, revisiting her own forms, then sparring Zuko in a lightening round, and two rounds of sparring Toph. Katara sat on the edge of her bed and rubbed her temples. Today had been a good day, nonetheless. And everyone knew that there would not be many more of those. As soon as Aang mastered all four elements they would be off again, and from that journey nothing was certain. Who would live, who wouldn't be coming back, if the Fire Lord would be defeated, if they would reach him before Sozin's comet, if Aang would be able to handle it all, if Zuko would remain faithful to them, if the others survived pri . . . . . _would_ Zuko stand the test? She thought back a few hours:

He was facing her and they had just ended their sparring. They bowed to each other respectfully. As they came up, Zuko's face had a slight smile on it, as if he was trying to hold back laughter. Having just been beaten, Katara had been in a bit of a bad mood.

"What are smirking at?" she had almost snapped at him. But Zuko either didn't notice or didn't care.

"I was thinking about-about us doing this after the fight at the north pole."

Katara hadn't been able to help cracking a smile: it was an absurd thought. With friendly sarcasm, she added " I don't think I was quite up to it, sorry. Being knocked out against a tree and all . .. "

"No, no I meant after the second time."

"Ohhh, the time when I beat you?"

"You di-"

"Hmm?"

"I . . ."

"Exactly." She said feigning an air of superiority.

"I don't think I was up to it, sorry. Being knocked out after falling some twenty feet into ice tends to do that to me." Zuko had replied with a wry grin, and his scar wrinkled a bit at the bottom. They had looked at each other for a moment as if trying to figure something out. Then they had started to laugh.

Katara opened her deep blue eyes and stared blankly at her bedroom wall. _I can only hope he's really chosen us. _ Suddenly, a scene flashed in her mind. They were back in the crystal catacombs, and he was firing at her. She brought up a shield, but as Azula joined his attacks, Katara was thrown backwards.

Katara blinked rapidly and took a deep breath to erase the image from her head. No, Zuko was with them now. Or was h- _STOP IT! _She gathered her bed sheets into her fists. She had to stop thinking about him. She flopped back onto the bed. _I'll think about – Aang! . . . . .and how he needs to master water as soon as possible. Maybe if he starts -_ She groaned.

"This is too much stress for a 15 year old girl," she said to no one in particular. Unless an airbender spirit was keeping her company. She pulled her legs into bed and underneath the cool sheets. Then, she rolled onto her side, pulling the blankets with her.

CRASH!

She groaned again and mumbled something. _Stupid lamp, I'll clean it up in the morning,_ she thought.

* * *

_Read and review or Zuko will lose his firebending again. ;D  
_


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter three is here. Finally, a Zuko-centric chappie. drools. There is an extremely mild swear word, just to let you know. The stupid documents page won't let me indent paragraphs! How does that work? Anyone?  
_

_Disclaimer: I attempted to storm the studio and steal avatar, but they unleash one of their martial art models on me._

* * *

Zuko put out his candles and climbed into bed. He yawned as his head sunk into the pillow and stretched his arms above his head. It wasn't a royal suite in the fire nation palace, but after a today's work it would definitely do. He rolled to his side and stared at the picture of his mother he'd propped up on the table next to his bed. In the room's pale shadows, he could only see her faint outline against the paper. _Tears show weakness._ He shut his eyes tight and turned to face the ceiling, instead. Of course he had missed her all these years, but now the hurt was fresh again. _He lied to me all those years, all those months, all those weeks, every day, every hour . . ._ Could he really expect more from a father like his? _I was just so – naïve. For so long, it never occurred to me to doubt him. _ He pushed his thoughts away, though. He went over the same things, night after night, and tonight he needed his sleep.

Sokka heard something and turned over in his sleep. Then he sat up. He rubbed his eyes before grabbing his trusty boomerang and getting out of bed to investigate, regardless of the fact that his boomerang would be of almost no help in the tight corridors.

CRASH!

Zuko's eyes sprung open. He quickly got out of bed and cautiously opened his door. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darker lighting, but he didn't see anything in the hallway ahead of him, or the hallway that stretched away to his right. _It must have come from Katara's room. _ He crept down the hall to the next door.

For a moment he debated whether or not it was wise to go in, but there was always the chance that she was in danger. Slowly, the door opened. It creaked softly and Zuko winced, but no piercing blue eyes and accusing fingers met him when he looked in. She was asleep in bed, the moonlight carving her features inward. Her hair was spread across her pillow and the covers rose and fell with her soft, even breathing. He stepped inside the room to make sure there were no intruders and glanced back at the bed with the eerie feeling that her eyes would snap open any second.

Wait, was she still breathing? He walked toward her bed softly. Oh, now he could see her chest moving. He kept walking closer, and closer. She had such long eyelashes. They gently framed the rim of her eyelids and made small shadows on her cheeks. . . . . . .

Wait, what the _hell_ was he doing? He froze. His right hand was outstretched until it almost touched her cheek. He quickly pulled it back and took a few steps likewise. _What was THAT?_ He silently berated himself._ What if she had woken up? Do you know what she would have done? She would have bit off your head and blown you from here to Kyoshi Island!! What were you thinking? She's barely even your friend! You're losing it, Zuko. _He shook his head and backed out of the room. A cracking sound turned his attention to the floor. He had stepped on a small lamp that lay shattered on the floor. It must have been the cause of that sound. _I wonder how she managed to sleep through that? _He kept going and then slowly closed the door.

A dark figure a few feet away in the hall startled him.

"Who's there?" He asked hoarsely. He lit a small flame in his palm.

* * *

_Oooo, cliffy. hehe Plz review people!! Everytime you review a dollar is donated to poverty-stricken firenation fishing villages!  
_


	4. Chapter 4

_This is sort of a short chapter, but here you go. I'm really surprised how fast I'm going with the chapters, since I only started posting them Tuesday. I had them already written out, though, so its been smooth sailing so far. I'm about to hit some holes._

_Disclaimer: If I owned avatar, i'd make zuko keep a dragon as an animal guide. that'd be awesome._

* * *

It was Sokka. And with his hand still on Katara's doorknob, Zuko realized he was in _quite_ an awkward situation.

"What were you doing in my sister's room?"

Zuko wondered why his mouth suddenly went dry.

"I heard a crash and got up to investigate. Since Katara's room is the closest to mine, I looked there first. Turns out it's just a lamp that must have fallen off her bed. She's still asleep." He didn't know why he had added the last part, as if to prove to Sokka that he had been careful not to disturb her. Sokka was giving him his "serious thinking" face, which at any other time would have made Zuko laugh. For some reason, it wasn't funny now. Sokka brushed past him and peeked into Katara's room. Sure enough, the lamp still lay on the floor, broken.

"Okay, but if I find that you are getting too close to my sister, I will . . ." he didn't finish, but took a deep breath. " . . . you'll be sorry."

Zuko gulped and nodded, although again, the thought of Sokka threatening him would have been hilarious at any other time. Sokka pulled away and started to walk back to his room. Zuko followed suite.

"Zuko?"

Zuko turned back around to face Sokka. "Yeah?"

"Thanks for checking on her. It means a lot, you know?"

Zuko just nodded.

"I'm Sorry." Sokka went on to his room and shut the door. Sorry for what? Threatening him? Thinking the worst of him? Why had Sokka threatening him seemed so familiar? Oh yeah, Katara talking on his first day. They really cared about each other here. Their loyalty ran deep. Zuko was surprised to find himself wishing that he had friends like that - the kind that would risk their lives for you. Somewhere deeper in his mind asked if the gang would ever think of him like that. _If_ Zuko had heard it he would have thought, "I doubt it". Heck, his own sister wouldn't. Zuko ran his hand through his hair and padded back to his bed. Time to get some sleep.

88888888

Katara opened her eyes. A warm breeze stirred her hair. She was sitting on the floor. Where her feet were in the shadows it was cool, but the mosaic beneath her hands was in the sun and felt warm. She studied the pattern: there were red, orange and white-checkered phoenixes, fire lilies, and suns. Her gaze traveled down the hall and finally up the wall to the high ceilings. _Where was she?_


	5. Chapter 5

_So sorry it took awhile to get this up! My bad. This chappie is solely Katara-centric and a bit of a filler, but its necessary. I enjoyed writing it, actually. _

_Disclaimer: I don't own the avatar, the last, or the airbender. Go figure._

* * *

She sat back on her heels and looked around at the overwhelming melon red and gold. One side of the hallway was made up of pillars and windows, and long curtains that blew inward and sighed with each burst of breeze. The fire nation. Katara slowly stood up almost afraid to breathe and break the fragile silence. There was no one in sight. Immediately she noticed that she felt weightless, pushing herself up with almost no effort. She looked down at her hands. They were bluish and see-through. _I'm a-a spirit??_

Suddenly, the official clicking of heels was heard around the corner, coming closer and closer. A man rounded the corner in a red robe, hands folded inside his sleeves and whistling. Katara froze in fear, but he didn't even glance at her. She backed against the wall as a group of girls walked down the hall, dressed in clothes finer than Katara could even imagine. They looked like dolls, but she could tell that their conversation was less than innocent.

"I swear, if Yumi even lays a _finger_ on Ree, my father will find reason to have her father fired. Father's rank is too high to be ignored: it wouldn't be a problem. "

"But I don't think that Yumi is your biggest competition. The only other girl Ree flirts with is Liela. . . . and her father's a commander!"

"Well, we'll just see if he still pays her any notice after tonight-" Their voices faded away. _They must not be able to see me,_ Katara thought as no one had even looked in her direction.

She tried to think back, and remember how she could have gotten to the fire nation. She had gone to sleep . . . and then . . . and then . . . there was a swamp. A peaceful swamp, and a monkey meditating in a shrine of sorts. What had he told her? _Well, the monkey said that I needed to find some one I don't know, yet know and knew before. Who would that be?_ She didn't have any friends in the fire nation palace, but then again: if she were friends with them she'd have to know them, right? And she wasn't supposed to know them . . . . But the monkey _also _said that she _did_ know them. Or at least had at one point.

This was beyond confusing.

Maybe if she just wondered around enough, she'd see them and recognize them? She wasn't sure just how big the palace was, though, and she wanted to get back to the air temple as soon as possible.

Katara wondered down the hall and took a right at the end. This new hallway was lined with doors, spaced evenly apart. She opened one and was confronted with a magnificent expanse of ballroom. The walls were red with golden swirls like vines painted on them. From the center of the ceiling dangled a big crystal and ruby chandelier. Clean marble floor shone in the sunlight that poked its way between heavy maroon drapes. Katara closed the door softly and resumed her search – for what she didn't know. This hall way led to a gallery of portraits. Fire nation nobles, she guessed. There were many labeled Former Fire Lord , with paintings of men with their hair pulled severely back into top knots adorned with the golden Fire insignia. Many paintings showed a family with them. She found herself wondering if there were one of Ozai, certainly he would have had one made. She wondered what he looked like. What did tyrannical, mass murders look like? Probably, something like Azula. She walked to the end of the row. No Ozai. The last firelord's name was Azulan. That was strange.

She walked back out of the gallery and chose a direction at random. She opened a door and found five men standing around a table. Their heads whipped around as the door creaked open.

"Who goes there?"

" . . . "

"Did someone just open the door?"

"No one's there."

"Perhaps Azulan is having spies trained on us."

"He just sits there all day, he doesn't suspect a thing."

"Well, shut the door. And lock it!"

The door was indeed shut and locked in Katara's face, but she had other things on her mind. _ Why were they talking like Azulan was in power? I thought he had died._ She started to walk on, but thought better of it. She needed to get outside. The red, gold, and the ever-present warmth were stifling. The very air itself wrapped around her, humid, warm, and heavy. She took a left that led deeper into the palace. Where had she first come in? There had been long filmy curtains blowing in the breeze where she had started. The hallways became slightly smaller as did the passing doors. A quick check in some rooms showed guest suites, and empty rooms for entertaining company. Suddenly, there came a series of doors larger and more ornate. The royal family, perhaps?

A double-door down the hall caught her attention where a sliver of daylight spilled on the floor. She eagerly pushed them open and inhaled deeply. The garden was small, but peaceful. The tiled roofs of the surrounding walls jutted out, giving the courtyard an enclosed feeling, save the mid-day sun that soaked the place from above. Her gaze wondered down a path to a pond beneath a willow tree. Turtle-ducks swam serenely across its surface.

* * *

_Reviews make the world a better place! At least my world . . ;D pleaseeeeeeeee?!  
_


End file.
